A few harvests are coming in, as I play in clay madly.
Grapes dangle, waiting patiently.
Of course, we would rather get through this intense heat by lying around face to face.
Canoodling.
But as the rains came in, a few things ripened in the garden and needed to come in.
The grape vine looked as though it could take no more heat.
Zinnias exploded.
The grapes got very sweet.
And when the Phainopeplas turned up and were gobbling them down…
Bunches at at time, then I knew.
I had to pick.
I love these little grapes.
They are small and so sweet with a little hint of tartness every other one.
Which I love.
I ate so many while washing and taking off the stems.
Such cuties.
Pumpkins are starting to get great big vines…
As we work so hard to protect everything from critters.
The gophers have been especially awful this year.
They got a whole bed of tomatoes, even though there is intense wire mesh under ground.
They killed our 10 year old lemon tree, two roses bushes…
And countless other things.
They sucked down chilies and bell peppers.
It's been a doozy.
I replanted 3 times, but then couldn't keep up.
I plum stopped crying over it.
We may have to switch to above ground planters.
We are working on those plans.
Thank goodness they stay away from the basil and carrots and leeks and onions.
(knock on wood)
I love roasting carrots and potatoes and beets.
Just wash and dry (chop the potatoes as you wish), coat with a little olive oil, put on a cookie sheet.
Sprinkle with salt and pop in oven for 45 minutes at 425' F.
(turning halfway through cooking)
They are so yumm.
If you want to herb them with rosemary and such, just finely chop your fresh herbs and then toss them with the veggies as soon as you take them out of the oven.
I also make barbecue chicken a lot.
Leg quarters quite often.
(with skin on for moisture)
You can make your own sauce if you don't have any.
Just mix ketchup, Tabasco (hot) sauce, a little vinegar, brown sugar, salt, garlic powder and worcestershire sauce if you have any on hand.
Mix those all up to taste, and coat your chicken with it in a big bowl.
(or just buy your fave barbecue sauce)
Heat both sides of your grill.
Brown your chicken as you wish for about 3 minutes a side, always stay present in case the skin goes up in flames you can flip it real quick.
Then turn off one side of the burners on your grill and put all your chicken on the side that is off.
Leave the other side on high or med-high flames.
Then close the lid and let each side of the chicken cook on the side that is off for 30 minutes per side.
Total of 1 hour.
It's soooo good, you won't believe it.
Let cool a few minutes before serving.
The garden is in full summer magic.
Peaches almost ready.
Butterflies and critters everywhere.
Resting from the heat on my freshly watered wild verbenas.
I brought some wild verbenas from the river bed 10 years ago, in a tiny cup, and now they grow all over my yard in big waves. I love it when that happens 🙂
Sunflowers unfurl happily.
And then look who turns up.
Gobbling away all the goodness it can find hidden in flowers.
Moving at the speed of light.
Yumm yumm!
It's lazy dog days of summer my friends.
We are about to have crazy heat and no rain again for a while.
But we have lots of little sweet grapes.
Which I am boiling down to a grape syrup.
It's sooo good hot.
And of course, more basil than we could ever use.
We ate so much pesto this weekend and so much French bread we should be ashamed.
The gift of all gifts.
Mister Lovee presented me with the first ripe giant peach of the year from our kind tree.
It was lovely.
Basil and peaches and grapes and…
Lots of love.
What more could we ask for in the dog days of summer?
I tried to transplant my lemon tree tonight, with all its roots gone from gopher eating.
One can hope.
I have soo much clay fun on the table.
I will start firing and painting this week.
What is going on out there in your world?
Send me more rain, k?
Looove, V
Grapes, basil and a giant peach full of love; yum. 🙂
Oh Vanessa, how I love your blog… It’s Garden Fairytale Magic…
What a lovely vine! And that moth is beautiful! I think it’s really a faery!
Your doggies are so adorable! I can’t wait to have my own some day!
Ahhh that bird is so cheeky and adorable, he reminds me of mine! He takes big mouthfuls of things in his tiny mouth too!
Oh my, what a wonderful bounty. Such delicious fruit.
Life can be so good 🙂 I love listening and seeing You enjoying the goodness.Don’t ever forget how blessed You are and who blesses You-Love Denise
Hello dear Vanessa, I’ve had my twin babies! Wonderful to see all is good with you in your beautiful world. I hope you savoured that first peach it looks delicious. Sorry to see I missed the tea party, but come over to see my girls sometime lovely you xx
Everything loves the rain you’ve had! I posted something today and it’s more Mad Hatter Tea party FUN! Hope you can stop by to visit….I know you’ll LOVE it! Sweet hugs, Diane
V
Make sure your prune back the top severely too…..things have to be equal…. or nearly so.. Under normal circumstance a normal prune back would be 1/3 of a tree/bush/plant , a severe pruning would be half…… i think you just need to judge what you think the roots that are left can support…
Those darn gophers!! Hard to believe they can still get thru after all the precautions you and Lovey took. Geesh! Slipery little buggers…. Perhaps raised beds ARE the answer…
Can you come cook for hubby and i? Pretty pretty please…..LOL!
Love those hummingbird moths ( thats what i call them) When i worked at the Garden Center they would keep me company every morning at 5am while i watered the flowers. Hugs! deb
Sorry about your gopher woes! I just lost a tiny apple tree and a lemon tree that I had started from seeds . . . not to gophers, but to my own inattention! 🙁
Those sphinx moths are a lovely reward for putting up with them in their “younger” form . . . tomato hornworms!
And then, of course, there’s Miles and his nose . . . what a cute, cute nose! ! !
I’m afraid over here in Cali we have no rain to share . . . no rain at all. I sure hope this next rainy season brings us more or we are really going to be in trouble! Not that we aren’t now, but I can’t imagine if we are still in a drought this time next year.
Sherill, I soooo hope you get rain too. All of this dry weather is
just too much for words aint it? You know whats weird, I never noticed
the hornworms around so I am surprised at all the different moths and such
hanging around. Normally I would notice my plants getting gobbled down
🙂
I looove those hummingbird moths sooo much!! I had to prove to lovee
that they werenot actual hummingbirds that moved so fast and were so
huge. Thank you for the gopher eaten roots pruning tip. One of the
rose bushes they got had some roots left after all their munching underground,
but all the leaves fell off. Well I took a big hammer type tool and
pounded to ground back in all around it (been doing that for years to save
plants from gopher caverns underneath). Literally I came outside one day
and the big rose bush was on its side, but I put it back in the ground and
pounded away, firming the ground back up. Well, guess what, it has a bunch
new tiny leaves trying to push out, so I may have saved one so far. A few
years ago they ate a massive Rose of Sharon that was beyond beautiful. All
the roots, gone. They are sooo destructive and there are sooo many.
When it rains moist soil can cave in right underneath you so you fall in gopher
caverns and holes and tunnels up to your knee. When Mister Lovee found
this place over 20 years ago now, the old man next door with an underground
bunker said in a very creepy voice, beware beware you will never ever ever be
able to get rid of the gophers. The fact that they are taking out big
trees now is freaky though. Its like a bad B scary movie
🙂
I love your garden <3
Oh, wow. I can’t even imagine being able to grow grapes. Knowing me, I’d call it a “Vineyard” and laugh heartily about the jelly and wine I might make with those powerful grapes. So yeah, it’s probably best that I can’t grow grapes and make cruddy tasting wine, lol. The world needs MORE great tasting vino, not the bad stuff. ‘;)
I am so inspired by all of your gardening goodness that you share with us! And the WAY you share it just makes me feel like I am in a magical land. : )
Those critters that are stealin’ some of your goodies cause me to feel like grrrrr-ing on your behalf!! So sorry. It’s nice to see that you still have an abundance of other things.
When you were talking about the pumpkin vines, it made me happily think of the fall to come! Fall is my favorite season!
Sigh…I love your garden. I’m sorry the gophers have been so bad. Shame on them! I wonder if there is a natural repellent that you could use to keep them away. You’ve probably looked into that.
I wish I could send you some of our rain, but we actually need it. I’ll keep wishing for rain for you so you can have a puddle break!
love & blessings
~*~
ps…hugs & kisses to the fur-babies!
Such teeny little grapes!
That basket of them reminded me of my fav movie …A Walk in the Clouds 🙂 I’ll bet you’ve seen it, Curiosa.
Stay cool!
Sweet puppie dogs 🙂
Well we haven’t gotten any rain so you must be hoarding it down there 😉 Oh I just love this early harvest season. It is a weird summery time because while it is still summer, I am thinking very much of Fall and pumpkins and leaves.
All your garden goodies sound nice. The grapes look so good. That peach looks beautiful.
We have moles here that are making tunnels all over the yard. Evil little critters killing my plants.
Heaven, I tell you, Veevala, dahling, shheeerrrr H-E-A-V-E-N!!!
You know what?
I’ve been accompanying Wolf-boy on his pet-sitting jaunts when I’m not in stateworkery world, and so I am not home as often as I should be. That means no slow-paced declutterizing or willful scrubbing or daily sweep-dusting..eeps! It’s a mad house! But, things will slow down and I’ll catch up when the air’s a little cooler and the windows can be thrown open.
Unfortunately, though, all this going has meant no growing. 🙁
But, since I’ve been the sidekick, I’ve met all these nice people and their sweet furry babies (or winged creatures or gilled beings), AND I’ve oohed and aahed over so many types of plots, and things growing, and learned tips and tricks for keeping out critters, and organic gardening and one of the things that has evolved, now that folks know I’m with Wolf-Boy is…..
“…and can your wife come and look after the garden while we’re gone?”
Veevala, I’ve watered and weeded and deadheaded and pruned and fertilized and picked goodies from so many gardens all over Tallahassee! But I’m SO honored!!
{Mine went neglected and forlorn, ‘cept for two rotten tomatoes. :)}
BUT
Of COURSE people with gardens are automatically nurturers,(I swear!) and so grateful that when it didn’t’ rain every day while they were gone to the lake or beach or the mountains or wherever, that not only are their pets in good hands and air conditioned comfort (and let’s face it, getting spoiled), they know too, that I’m there, hoarding buckets of precious rainwater whenever possible, or tooling along with garden hose in hand, misting and spraying and soaking as necessary…..and I’m so so glad to do it, because I don’t have to tell YOU that the idea of coming home to a wilted, forlorn garden is a sad prospect indeed, and…there’s just something so satisfying, in a completely different way than anything else, of tending to things in the dirt.
And then, they are all about *sharing* the bountiful harvest…
YAY. 🙂
XOXOXVIII to you and Lovee and all the animals, snow white!! 😉
I love grapes too – but I’ve never had grilled carrots – that sounds delish!